In Taiwan, I can find fresh soy milk almost at every corner. It’s an essential part of traditional Taiwanese breakfast along with the duo shao bing (literally means baked bread) and you tiao (literally oil stick), which is major carb overload. Shao bing you tiao= donut sandwich. It’s not as weird as it sounds. It’s actually delicious! Occasionally, it’s a necessary evil, but I keep my love affair at a distance. I opt out of the you tiao and go for the shao bing with egg along with a refreshing cup of ice cold soy milk.

Buying fresh soy milk in Taiwan is easy, but once you make your own, store-bought will never be as good. Homemade soy milk is delicious, cheap and easy to make. There are two things that take time: (1) soaking the beans over night and (2) steaming the beans. Most recipes don’t steam the beans, but I found that steaming them before blending brings out more flavor.

Like this:

About the Soup

Arugula, corn and roasted peppers make one of my favorite chopped salads. So why not make a soup?

I wanted to try Tal Ronnen’s Cashew Cream recipe from his book, the conscious cook. Supposedly, raw cashews can mimic the texture and replace cream without altering taste. In the past, I’ve used soy, coconut and almond milk as substitutes for milk. I’ve never used them in savory recipes and I wouldn’t want to. They tasted like what they’re supposed to-soy, coconut and almond.

Could cashews be the answer? I needed to try it.

Cashew Cream Recipe by Tal Ronnen

a page from Tal Ronnen’s The Conscious Cook

I followed the recipe as instructed. I have a Vita-Mix blender (pricey, but worth every penny) so it made things a lot easier.

Step 1: Soak raw cashews (I used a 16 oz. bag from Trader Joe’s.)

This is what they look like after being soaked for a few days. The recipe says overnight, but I didn’t get to them till 3 days later.

Step 2: Pour in Vita-Mix and blend until smooth

cashew cream (~5 cups)

The Soup

Serves: ~4-5

Ingredients:

3 ears of sweet corn

3 roasted peppers*

1 loose cup of arugula (garnish)

1 cup of cashew cream

3 cups of water

2-3 tbsp of olive oil (more for frying arugula)

spicy olive oil (optional)

salt and pepper to taste

* I used Trader Joe’s pre-made fire roasted peppers.

Step 1: Shave the kernels (I used a knife or you can buy a fancy gadget.)

Step 2: pour olive oil onto a medium heated pan and saute the kernels with some salt and pepper for 5-7 mins until color changes